Clinical Psychologist

So are you going to be able to bring that inside?

So are you going to be able to bring that inside?

Yeah, so there have always been a small number of young people who have felt this deep disconnect between their inner sense of themselves as boys or girls and their bodies, you know, how they're seen by society. But when it comes to the medical story and when these kids are actually beginning to interact with the medical community, there's actually a really clear beginning.

Yeah, so there have always been a small number of young people who have felt this deep disconnect between their inner sense of themselves as boys or girls and their bodies, you know, how they're seen by society. But when it comes to the medical story and when these kids are actually beginning to interact with the medical community, there's actually a really clear beginning.

And it's one that pretty much everyone in the field knows about and points to. And it starts in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is this small, very socially liberal country. And back in the 1950s, they were among the few countries in the world that were actually treating trans patients, so at this point, just adults, medically. Mm-hmm.

And it's one that pretty much everyone in the field knows about and points to. And it starts in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is this small, very socially liberal country. And back in the 1950s, they were among the few countries in the world that were actually treating trans patients, so at this point, just adults, medically. Mm-hmm.

So at the time, the mainstream medical establishment really viewed trans people with a lot of suspicion. So if a trans person came into a doctor's office saying that they felt like they were in the wrong body, often those doctors would assess those patients as being mentally disturbed or sexually deviant or even psychotic.

So at the time, the mainstream medical establishment really viewed trans people with a lot of suspicion. So if a trans person came into a doctor's office saying that they felt like they were in the wrong body, often those doctors would assess those patients as being mentally disturbed or sexually deviant or even psychotic.

And so if they got any health care at all, it would usually be from an analyst or a psychiatrist.

And so if they got any health care at all, it would usually be from an analyst or a psychiatrist.

I mean, it was sort of corrective, trying to convince them to let go of the idea that they could ever live as the opposite sex. But there were a small number of doctors around this time who felt like that approach was actually failing these patients, that it was completely ineffective in addressing the pain that they were feeling.

I mean, it was sort of corrective, trying to convince them to let go of the idea that they could ever live as the opposite sex. But there were a small number of doctors around this time who felt like that approach was actually failing these patients, that it was completely ineffective in addressing the pain that they were feeling.

There's a foundational medical book from around this time on cancer. Trans Medicine that talks about this one second. It says that, you know, these patients that were treated with psychotherapy languished and that, quote, the majority were miserable, unhappy members of the community unless they committed suicide. So, you know,

There's a foundational medical book from around this time on cancer. Trans Medicine that talks about this one second. It says that, you know, these patients that were treated with psychotherapy languished and that, quote, the majority were miserable, unhappy members of the community unless they committed suicide. So, you know,

What some of these doctors were doing at around this time was actually listening to what these patients were saying and believing them that what they needed was to change their bodies.

What some of these doctors were doing at around this time was actually listening to what these patients were saying and believing them that what they needed was to change their bodies.

And so these doctors were treating these patients with hormones, giving trans women estrogen so that they developed female characteristics, giving trans men testosterone so they developed male characteristics, and they also performed surgeries.

And so these doctors were treating these patients with hormones, giving trans women estrogen so that they developed female characteristics, giving trans men testosterone so they developed male characteristics, and they also performed surgeries.

And so by the 1980s, as these treatments were becoming a little less fringe, a clinical psychologist named Peggy Cohen-Ketnes started to research how these patients were actually doing.

And so by the 1980s, as these treatments were becoming a little less fringe, a clinical psychologist named Peggy Cohen-Ketnes started to research how these patients were actually doing.